Of all the states I biked through from Montana to Arizona, Idaho was my favorite.
Year: 2020
Ancient Travelers – Footprints from 25,000 BC
Travelers have been coming to Manisa, Turkey for a long time. Ancient Greek, Roman, and Lydian travelers voyaged through the area and in some cases set up homes.
Quebec City Revisited – Musee de Civilization
Quebec City is better than most places though…it’s French and there is a sort of smug condescension that suits me.
Bandon, Oregon – Gorgeous Undeveloped Pacific Coast
Every once in a while (but not often enough) we head down the coast to the beautiful town of Bandon, Oregon often called Bandon by the Sea. Founded in 1873 by an Irishman who was reminded of his hometown in Ireland – it is a town of beautiful seascape vistas and lots of cranberries. As…
Happy May Day. Workers of the World Unite!
Happy International Workers Day. Today more than ever, the workers of the world need to unite. As billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk try to force their workers to return to factories despite the COVID-19 risks (and without additional pay or benefits) and as Donald Trump and Republican governors try to re-open their states…
Happy May Day! A Short History of Labor in Hawaii
Hawaii has a long history of exploiting labor of the many for the profit of the few. In the days before European contact, the common people, the maka’aina worked the taro patches and fishponds for the chiefly class – the ali’i. And yet, despite the feudal nature of this relationship between worker and master –…
The most brutal visual of wealth shown to scale
You (and everyone) need to look at this and scroll through the whole thing – it will take you 10-15 minutes, but it may be the best chance to ever understand just how obscene the inequality of wealth really is. https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/
Alternative New York City: What to see when you’ve been there before
New York City is packed with world-famous attractions; tell someone you’re going there on holiday and they’ll immediately start talking about sites like the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty and Rockefeller Center. But if, like me, you’ve been before and seen all the most famous attractions, you might be wondering, ‘what’s next?’. So, I’ve…
The Oregon Country Fair
Every Summer in the woods outside of the little town of Veneta, Oregon – hordes of hippies, puppeteers, musicians, acrobats, nudists, herbalists, and assorted other oddballs assemble for a spectacular show unlike any other – The Oregon Country Fair. For three days there are concerts, dance, homemade soap vendors, and the heavy smell of patchouli and…
Goreme to Ankara to Istanbul
From the Otogar in Ankara which was truly massive with hundreds of buses going to all points in Turkey, we followed Ramazan and got into a cab which took us to the modern and architecturally interesting train station. It was situated near a giant amusement park that made me remember going to Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm when I was a kid.